1 KINGS 2:1-3:2
ACTS 5:1-42
PSALM 125:1-5
PROVERBS 16:25
1 KINGS 2:1-3:2
As the time of King David's death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 " I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the LORD your God and follow all his ways. Keep each of the laws, commands, regulations, and stipulations written in the law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. 4 If you do this, then the LORD will keep the promise he made to me: ` If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.' 5 " And there is something else. You know that Joab son of Zeruiah murdered my two army commanders, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace, staining his belt and sandals with the blood of war. 6 Do with him what you think best, but don't let him die in peace. 7 " Be kind to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead. Make them permanent guests of the king, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom. 8 " And remember Shimei son of Gera, the man from Bahurimin Benjamin. He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was fleeing to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I swore by the LORD that I would not kill him. 9 But that oath does not make him innocent. You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him." 10 Then David died and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned over Israel for forty years, seven of them in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 Solomon succeeded him as king, replacing his father, David, and he was firmly established on the throne. 13 One day Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, came to see Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. " Have you come to make trouble?" she asked him. " No," he said, " I come in peace. 14 In fact, I have a favor to ask of you." " What is it?" she asked. 15 He replied, " As you know, the kingdom was mine; everyone expected me to be the next king. But the tables were turned, and everything went to my brother instead; for that is the way the LORD wanted it. 16 So now I have just one favor to ask of you. Please don't turn me down." " What is it?" she asked. 17 He replied, " Speak to King Solomon on my behalf, for I know he will do anything you request. Ask him to give me Abishag, the girl from Shunem, as my wife." 18 " All right," Bathsheba replied. " I will speak to the king for you." 19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak on Adonijah's behalf. The king rose from his throne to meet her, and he bowed down before her. When he sat down on his throne again, he ordered that a throne be brought for his mother, and she sat at his right hand. 20 " I have one small request to make of you," she said. " I hope you won't turn me down." " What is it, my mother?" he asked. " You know I won't refuse you." 21 " Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem," she replied. 22 " How can you possibly ask me to give Abishag to Adonijah?" Solomon demanded. " You might as well be asking me to give him the kingdom! You know that he is my older brother, and that he has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his side." 23 Then King Solomon swore solemnly by the LORD: " May God strike me dead if Adonijah has not sealed his fate with this request. 24 The LORD has confirmed me and placed me on the throne of my father, David; he has established my dynasty as he promised. So as surely as the LORD lives, Adonijah will die this very day!" 25 So King Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him, and Adonijah was put to death. 26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, " Go back to your home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not kill you now, because you carried the Ark of the Sovereign LORD for my father, and you suffered right along with him through all his troubles." 27 So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his position as priest of the LORD, thereby fulfilling the decree the LORD had made at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli. 28 Although he had not followed Absalom earlier, Joab had also joined Adonijah's revolt. When Joab heard about Adonijah's death, he ran to the sacred tent of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar. 29 When news of this reached King Solomon, he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him. 30 Benaiah went into the sacred tent of the LORD and said to Joab, " The king orders you to come out!" But Joab answered, " No, I will die here." So Benaiah returned to the king and told him what Joab had said. 31 " Do as he said," the king replied. " Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from me and from my father's family. 32 Then the LORD will repay him for the murders of two men who were more righteous and better than he. For my father was no party to the deaths of Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 May Joab and his descendants be forever guilty of these murders, and may the LORD grant peace to David and his descendants and to his throne forever." 34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada returned to the sacred tent and killed Joab, and Joab was buried at his home in the wilderness. 35 Then the king appointed Benaiah to command the army in place of Joab, and he installed Zadok the priest to take the place of Abiathar. 36 The king then sent for Shimei and told him, " Build a house here in Jerusalem and live there. But don't step outside the city to go anywhere else. 37 On the day you cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die; your blood will be on your own head." 38 Shimei replied, " Your sentence is fair; I will do whatever my lord the king commands." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. 39 But three years later, two of Shimei's slaves escaped to King Achish of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were, 40 he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to search for them. When he had found them, he took them back to Jerusalem. 41 Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned. 42 So he sent for Shimei and demanded, " Didn't I make you swear by the LORD and warn you not to go anywhere else, or you would surely die? And you replied, ` The sentence is fair; I will do as you say.' 43 Then why haven't you kept your oath to the LORD and obeyed my command?" 44 The king also said to Shimei, " You surely remember all the wicked things you did to my father, King David. May the LORD punish you for them. 45 But may I receive the LORD's rich blessings, and may one of David's descendants always sit on this throne." 46 Then, at the king's command, Benaiah son of Jehoiada took Shimei outside and killed him. So the kingdom was now firmly in Solomon's grip.3:1 SOLOMON made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the LORD and the wall around the city. 2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local altars, for a temple honoring the name of the LORD had not yet been built.
ACTS 5:1-42
There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception. 3 Then Peter said, " Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God."5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, " Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?" " Yes," she replied, " that was the price." 9 And Peter said, " How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this--conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too." 10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened. 12 Meanwhile, the apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon's Colonnade. 13 No one else dared to join them, though everyone had high regard for them. 14 And more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord--crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result of the apostles' work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter's shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came in from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.17 The high priest and his friends, who were Sadducees, reacted with violent jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the jail. 19 But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them, 20 " Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!" 21 So the apostles entered the Temple about daybreak and immediately began teaching. When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council, along with all the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought for trial. 22 But when the Temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported, 23 " The jail was locked, with the guards standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!" 24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with the news that the men they had jailed were out in the Temple, teaching the people. 26 The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested them, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would kill them if they treated the apostles roughly. 27 Then they brought the apostles in before the council. 28 " Didn't we tell you never again to teach in this man's name?" the high priest demanded. " Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about Jesus, and you intend to blame us for his death!" 29 But Peter and the apostles replied, " We must obey God rather than human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by crucifying him. 31 Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this to give the people of Israel an opportunity to turn from their sins and turn to God so their sins would be forgiven. 32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him." 33 At this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them. 34 But one member had a different perspective. He was a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert on religious law and was very popular with the people. He stood up and ordered that the apostles be sent outside the council chamber for a while. 35 Then he addressed his colleagues as follows: " Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About four hundred others joined him, but he was killed, and his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got some people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered. 38 " So my advice is, leave these men alone. If they are teaching and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God." 40 The council accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. 41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. 42 And every day, in the Temple and in their homes, they continued to teach and preach this message: " The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus."
PSALM 125:1-5
A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.
1 Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion;
they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
2 Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds and protects his people, both now and forever.
3 The wicked will not rule the godly,
for then the godly might be forced to do wrong.
4 O LORD, do good to those who are good,
whose hearts are in tune with you.
5 But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O LORD.
Take them away with those who do evil.
And let Israel have quietness and peace.
PROVERBS 16:25
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
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